#also the world should have theme music and it unsettles me when it doesn't

[symbioticsimplicity]

Oh my God I forget how much easier the entire world is to deal with with both headphones on holy shit.

[birdmenmanga]

Hii please talk about your fav tracks from birdmen ost that doesn't exist!!! I wanna know!!! Are those like just songs or do you mean original instrumentals? (Btw I still have to give you my review of that eishi and his mom playlist, I didn't forget just so you know)

HI so this ask is clearly sent in response to this post, which I made in response to watching my mutual's video about the first episode of umineko when they cry (it's funny and you should watch it. hi silas)

he basically opens the video with "yeah so umineko is a banger visual novel with crazy good music. go listen to it" so then I went and listened to it and the music WAS good and then I got mad that I couldn't tell people to listen to banger music from my mental illness series because it doesn't have any music

BUT if we were to talk about the hypothetical BIRDMEN OST right. Hypothetically. boy do I have some thoughts for you.

So let's talk about the vibes of BIRDMEN right. What sorts of themes and aesthetics the series itself is exploring, and essentially the vehicle with which the author is using to sort of carry her message.

The visual aesthetics of the series are dark. Edgy, bordering on apocalyptic. High contrast, bold colors, and little rendering gives this series a very modern and futuristic vibe. Let's look at a couple of early color illustrations:

Even when she's working outside of this color palette, we still have those same elements in the illustrations:

Obviously not all illustrations follow this clean, modern aesthetic, but it gives us a good idea of how she thinks about this series. I specifically bring this up because Kekkaishi, one of her previous series, had a very traditional and historical aesthetic, and in some ways this was reflected through the watercolor artwork.

The rightmost illustration also features the red-yellow-black palette similar to the top photoset, but the soft textures end up giving it a different, warmer feeling.

What I'm getting at is that like the BIRDMEN color illustrations, which uses the digital medium in order to achieve the clean, bold colors, the soundtrack should also feature futuristic instruments, heavy in synths and other digitally created noises.

An idea commonly explored in the series, I'd say, is the idea of discomfort. The world which was once familiar to you is now totally foreign. It's disturbing, unsettling. I think the soundtrack should reflect that.

I think this song does an excellent job at capturing the unsettling atmosphere in BIRDMEN. Opening with the subtle ambient noise, the weird warbling noise, and then adds the unrelenting, repeating high note to build pressure. (ignore miku she's not part of the mental exercise) This is the song that convinced me a heavy, almost subsonic bass pulse like the one featured at 0:49 is an absolute must in the soundtrack. This type of sound profile, vaguely, is what I think "becoming a birdman" sounds like.

While most of this post is "yeah I think something that sounds kinda similar to this or uses sound fonts like this would make a great BIRDMEN OST" I have to pour one out to Cyber Thunder Cider (EZFG). This could just straight up be a blackout fight soundtrack.

Like, that super strong pulse at the start is EXACTLY what I imagine the throb of the back marking to be like if you had to express it through music. You know, this thing:

I REALLY like the timing of this. That first hit, then a beat of silence, and the suspense grows until the full energy of the track kicks in about 10 seconds into the song. You can practically hear Karasuma's mental monologue in the spaces between the beats. And when the track DOES get off the ground (haha?), it's got a very fast-paced, restless beat with these gritty synths. Despite its busyness, it's not so demanding of your attention, and consistent enough that it actually CAN function as a genuine BGM track in my opinion. I fancy myself an imaginer of music videos rather than an imaginer of animations, but unironically I feel like given enough time I could storyboard a gorgeous blackout fight scene to the song, that would literally be an animated scene and not a music video.

Obviously, I don't think ALL the tracks should have to be married to synths. I think EDEN's themes, for instance, should definitely have a touch of sound fonts that have a heavy religious note to it, like church bells or organs. I really enjoy wotaku's... hmm... I don't know what to call this... "Cathedral trap", maybe? I think it really does marry the reverent, intimidating Christian vibe with contemporary percussion. Haters may disagree but I genuinely think EDEN sounds like this:

However I feel like wotaku's music tends to be a bit overbearing and really demands a lot of the listener's attention. You'd have to slow the tracks to at least 0.75x speed to barely make them functional as OST music. special shoutout to the second one. I think the American flock massacre set to that song would go crazy. like if scenes of viktor making the decision to kill them, sanders and the other guy talking about it, was interspersed with the flock getting decimated? do you see the vision. the final gunshot is robin getting sniped. it would go crazy trust me

Now obviously we also have like. Normal Music, right. Like Music Which is Ambiently Playing in the Background While Normal Things Happen. I am not passionate about this type of music but I do still largely agree that they should still follow the synths rule. Here's some thoughts but these are largely subject to change:

This one's a fun one. I think it's worth listening to an on vocal version of it (Psi by r-906), and while largely it does fit into the synth-heavy, dark, low tones of the other songs I pulled out, it also has this really delightfully cheery section at 1:40. sadly I made the mistake of listening to it on loop while reading canis so this song is really tied to that series now. woops!

I am sure everyone is sick and tired of my bringing this song up at the drop of a hat but genuinely I think the blue sections of this PV are really great for the. normal and ordinary parts of the OST. it is light and airy and in some ways it really does feel like flying to me. but again wotaku's music is such a slut for attention it's really not possible to have something else take center stage while it's playing.

Something I'd really like the soundtrack and sound design to feature as like, a recurring thread, would be static. If you listen to some of the G-Witch soundtrack, such as these few songs (just listen to the first 5 seconds of each, you'll get the idea), you'll notice that there's this motif of like, a breathing apparatus:

I reaaally like this. They're pilots in space, and I think this being such a prominent motif in the series really sells the delicate mortality of a human body. It's soooo cunty. I think the birdmen equivalent would be static and here's why okay. "Communication" and "connection" are such huge and prominent themes in BIRDMEN, from the way they're likened to linked PCs, the nerve connections, the telepathy, and so on. Even though I personally imagine the tweets to be insanely high fidelity with no static at all, just a clear and platonic chime of pure thought, I still think static is such a good audio motif to have. Dead air is unsettling. anyways listen to the beginning of WAVE (niki)

those first 10 seconds are kinda goated. I love that in terms of the sound design.

well, anyways. my thoughts! enjoy!

[jackcinephile]

LO Fans: "I love Lore Olympus because it deals with serious themes, like sexual assault, abuse, gaslighting, trauma, and mental health issues!"

Me, who spent my life discovering and obsessing over masterpieces like this:

"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to impress me."

Yeah, I never understood that kind of praise. For one thing, people act like LO is groundbreaking for that reason, despite there being countless movies, books, tv shows, comics, and video games that also deal with the same themes. That isn't to say there can't be more stories like this, however. I, for one, am begging for another video game that comes close to the emotional resonance of Silent Hill 2, or for a faithful adaptation of Dracula and/or Phantom of the Opera, or for a horror movie as unsettling as The Howling! But to say any new story that deals with these themes is unique for doing so, is just simply not true. Lore Olympus is no more unique than any of these stories. Also, I don't understand the praise that Lore Olympus is great just by virtue of having these themes in the first place. Just because a story has serious themes, doesn't automatically make it good. Far too often does LO use its themes as a crutch for a plot that is standard issue among romances, as opposed to stories like The Howling, which has a very intriguing, outlandish plot that serves as a catalyst to explore themes of very real and relatable horror. Lore Olympus, without its intense themes, is just another story about the CEO falling in love with his intern. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE those kinds of stories, but Lore Olympus just doesn't really do it for me. And the poorly executed themes just hamper it even further for me.

If it wasn't already apparent, has anyone noticed a pattern between these titles? All but one are horror stories. In my opinion, that is one of the key differences between them and LO: Horror! The themes within, are ones that illicit terror, and the stories reflect that (even Phantom of the Opera--don't listen to anyone who says it's a romance). Starting with Dracula, one of the scenes that horrified me the most in the book was the one where Count Dracula sneaks into Mina's bedroom. The book describes him slitting open his own vein and forcing her to drink his blood. Mina then expresses feelings of violation, much akin to what rape survivors feel. It doesn't pull any punches in its shocking, horrific portrayal, but it never comes off as exploitative. That's because the best horror stories rely on the audience's empathy. In this case, nobody wants to feel violated, so we feel as horrified as the characters do when we read about this grotesque event. And because it is about illiciting fear through empathy, Dracula succeeds where Lore Olympus fails. Lore Olympus, before all else, is a romance. And rape should not be in a romantic story. Especially not when the narrative of LO uses this trauma to validate the relationship between the two leads. I'm not a fan of stories that use trauma to validate a relationship between romantic interests, and I think that partly stems from reading the Phantom of the Opera.

If you ask me, Phantom of the Opera is one if the best books to discuss abuse and gaslighting ever written! Despite misconceptions generated by the popularity of the musical, PotO is very much a horror story with hardly any romance at all. And it's one of the best examples about why using trauma to validate a romance is a very bad idea! You see, all the conflict of the story begins with The Phantom and his trauma. He was born with multiple physical deformities that cause him to look like a living corpse. Because of this, he is despised and rejected by the world in order to escape the hatred of the world, he commissions the construction of the Paris Opera House, complete with intricate catacombs where he can live out the rest of his miserable days. Then one day, a woman named Christine comes to work at the Opera as a chorus girl. She is sad and alone due to her being orphaned, without a friend in the world. She too is emotionally damaged and the Phantom thinks this means she'll understand him. The trouble begins instantly when he claims to be a character from a folktale that Christine's father used to tell her. This is when the manipulation and gaslighting begins. Part of what makes this so effective is how we see it from an outside perspective. The protagonist, Raoul, is in love with Christine and we get to see his confusion and growing concern when he starts realizing Christine is showing signs of an abusive relationship. What makes the relationship even worse is the fact that Christine actually does understand The Phantom. So she doesn't run away not only out of fear, but also compassion. She knows what it's like to feel isolated and dead to the world and The Phantom uses that against her. The more I describe this, the more parallels I begin to see to Hades' and Minthe's relationship. Yes, Minthe abused Hades in much of the same way as The Phantom abused Christine. Notice how Minthe keeps convincing Hades that they're the only people who understand each other, even going so far as to say, "We're the same." The funny thing is, that's exactly what the narrative uses to validate Hades' and Persephone's relationship! It tries to establish that Hades and Persephone relate to each other and they say, several times, "We're the same," to each other. But this is exactly how Hades got stuck in a toxic relationship with Minthe, so why is it suddenly okay now? Relationships that use shared trauma to validate themselves are almost always doomed to become toxic, in one way or another.

So what about the healthy relationship in Phantom of the Opera? Well, it's kinda interesting actually. You see, Christine eventually comes to realize that she needs help, so she turns to the protagonist, Raoul, to get her away from the Phantom. Raoul has an interesting character arc because he starts the novel being pretty immature and kinda selfish. He doesn't really take Christine's feelings into consideration. It's more like a boy chasing his childhood crush (actually that's exactly what happens). However, over the course of the story, as he becomes increasingly concerned with her well-being, he learns to care more about her feelings and her needs. This culminates in the climax, when he's willing to crawl through hell itself for her sake. I bring all this up because I wanted to compare Raoul with Hades as well. Hades is a very consistent character. He doesn't need an arc like Raoul because, from the very beginning, he's willing to put all of Persephone's needs before his, to a fault! That is his entire purpose within the narrative of LO. He exists to serve Persephone. Raoul didn't exist to serve Christine. He had his own journey of growing and maturing. And Christine didn't exist to serve Raoul either. It bothers me that a novel from 1910 has a more well-rounded relationship than a modern comic! Actually, now that I think about it, isn't Persephone's entire character arc supposed to be her learning that she shouldn't exist to serve others? Well, that totally contradicts Hades' role in the story, doesn't it? He exists to serve her! I guess, in the eyes of LO, it's only okay if men serve women, but not for women to serve men. Newsflash: neither is okay.

Now Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) remains, to this day, one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen! That's all thanks to its brutal depictions of domestic abuse. So Dr. Henry Jekyll believes the solution to enlightening the human race is to separate the good and evil in our souls. He solves this problem by creating a drug to do just that, which transforms him into Edward Hyde, but he becomes addicted and starts terrorizing a woman who was once a former patient of his. I think what makes this so effective, when compared to LO, is one simple factor: Fear. I am terrified of Edward Hyde, but whenever Apollo shows up, I'm just annoyed. That's because Hyde isn't being used to sell an agenda, while Apoll is. Apollo is all about making a statement about toxic masculinity, which always bothered me from the very beginning! Being an abusive cunt who rapes women has nothing to do with masculinity! It doesn't matter if you're masculine or feminine, anyone can be a cunting abusive rapist. If you are a rapist, it's because you're a monster who lacks empathy, not because of masculinity. And if you think masculinity has something to do with a lack of empathy, fuck off! Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not about toxic masculinity. It's about how drug addiction can often hurt other people around us just as much, if not moreso, than ourselves. It also doesn't use rape to validate a relationship between characters. I'm sorry, but that is just the laziest storytelling technique. When the antagonist is a rapist OF COURSE the male love interest is going to look better by comparison! But when you take Apollo out of the equation, Hades stops looking like a desirable love interest real fucking quick.

So yeah, I think Hades makes for a bad love interest. That's mostly because he's so much like Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yeah, the one title from the list above that's not a horror, but is no less relevant. The thing is, both Hades and Shinji have a lot in common, such as hating themselves, having a bad relationship with their father, and not caring at all about their own wants and needs. Oh, also Asuka's a better written character than Minthe, but that's a whole other topic. What makes Evangelion work, in my opinion, is that Shinji's whole journey is about learning to love himself, while Hades is portrayed as being perfect the way he is. Hades in LO is like a flawless beacon of virtue, solely because he worships the ground Persephone walks on. But the guy just doesn't care about himself at all! Like I said earlier, Hades guilty of the same self-destructive behaviors as Persephone but he's praised for it, while Persephone is encouraged to look after herself more often. Compare this to Shinji, whose life only gets worse the more he neglects himself. The only time Hades does something beneficial for himself is when he breaks up with Minthe, but immediately after that, he starts devoting every ounce of energy to Persephone! All that matters is her! He doesn't give a single fuck about himself. Sorry, but that's not good qualities in a male love interest. In all fairness, this is a problem with the romance genre as a whole. Most romances give priority to the protagonist (in this case Persephone) while neglecting the love interest (Hades). It's why I have a serious problem with the entire genre.

Now what could Silent Hill 2 have that is in any way relevant to Lore Olympus? Two words: Nightmare Fuel. Personifying trauma as literal demons is one of the smartest ideas anyone's ever had, because speaking from personal experience, that's how it feels. I just don't feel like the trauma experienced by the characters in LO is a waking nightmare like it is in real life. For one, the characters' trauma only pops up when it's convenient for the plot. Like whenever Persephone starts experiencing ptsd, it happens when she's with Hades so we can get a scene with Hades cuddling her. After that, it shows up in a scene to make her look badass by confronting Apollo. No, just no. The Howling did it better too, by making the protagonist's trauma such an inconvenience in her life! I never felt that way in LO. When you uss traumatic encounters to make your character look like a badass, kindly fuck off.